The Arts

Activity 1: About Japan and its people

In this activity, students will:

• identify where Japan is on a map and learn about the country, its people and some of their customs
• need realia such as Japanese objects, images and photos.

Key inquiry question: Where is Japan, what does it look like and what are some of the customs?

1. Use a wall map of the Asia region to explain to students where Japan is.
2. Identify where Australia is on the map and discuss with students how far away Japan is from our country.
3. Discuss how we could travel to Japan.
4. Show a short video, for example YouTube clip, that features sights and scenes from Japan.
5. Create a concept map with Japan at its centre and ask students to brainstorm what they now know about the country.
6. Ask students to select items, images or photos from the realia table and tell the other students what they are about.
7. Invite students to make comments about the presented items.
8. Create a Japanese corner for the duration of the learning sequence so that students can add to the collection of objects and spend more time touching and exploring them.

The Weaver Princess and the cowherd

1. Introduce your students to a traditional Japanese story The Weaver Princess and the cowherd. Provide students with background information about the story:
   • On 7 July Japan celebrates the Tanabata or Star Festival. Japanese children make special bamboo tree decorations.
   • Branches of bamboo grass are covered with paper decorations, and children write their wishes for the year on long strips of paper which they hang from the branches.
   • Adults write haiku poems on strips of paper which they attach to the bamboo trees.
   • The festival itself dates from medieval times. Through Japanese folklore, the story about the Weaver Princess, who fell in love with a cowherd, is now associated with the festival.
   • According to the story, when they fell in love they forgot to work. The Heavenly Emperor banished them to either end of the Milky Way.
   • On 7 July of each year they can cross the Milky Way to renew their love for each other.
2. Read the story which is a retelling of the original story. After the reading, ask the students the following questions:
   • What did you like or not like about the story?
   • Who was your favourite character and why?

Explain to the students that the story is celebrated as the Star Festival on 7 July and that children make special bamboo tree decorations from strips of paper with wishes written on them. These are tied to a tree.

Activity 2: Japanese festivals and celebrations

In this activity, students will:

• learn about Japanese national holidays and cultural events
• explore two festivals: the Star Festival, Tanabata; and Children's Day, Kodomo no Hi.

Key inquiry question: What festivals do the Japanese celebrate and what happens during the Star Festival and Japan's Children's Day?

Japanese national holidays and cultural events

1. Ask students to view the Japanese festival images and describe what they see.
2. Show the two calendars of Japanese national holidays and cultural events (below) and explain to your students what happens in each month.
3. Mark these on the class annual calendar.
4. After viewing the images, ask your students which images they remembered belong to the Star Festival and which ones belong to Japan's Children's Day.
5. Complete the activity by discussing whether the Japanese have any celebrations and festivals that are similar to Australian festivals.
6. Explain to your students that they are going to learn more about two Japanese festivals:
   • Star Festival, ‪‪‪‬‬ ‬Tanabata
   • Children's Day, ‪‪‬‬ ‬Kodomo no Hi.
7. Practise saying the Japanese names for these festivals with your students. 

Children's Day

1. Discuss the background to ‪‪‬‬‪Children's Day
2. Describe how families make their carp streamers to express good wishes with the hope that their children grow up healthy and find happiness.
3. Explain that the class is going to make 'Milky Way' decorations and carps similar to those made for the two festivals.
4. Ask students to discuss how they would like to decorate the artworks and use them to celebrate, as a class, healthiness and happiness.
5. Create an online cloud, using software such as ‪‪‪ ‬Wordle and including the words that have been suggested by the students.
6. Display the word cloud near a map of Japan.
7. Explain that the class is going to look at some of the celebrations and festivals that occur in Japan.
8. Discuss some of the celebrations and festivals that your students celebrate throughout the year.
9. Create a calendar for the year and mark these on the calendar.

Calendar of Japanese national holidays

Calendar of cultural events

Activity 3: Create festival decorations

In this activity, students will:

• make Milky Way decorations for the Star Festival and carps for Japan's Children's Day
• examine how Japanese festival decorations illustrate the Milky Way.

Key inquiry question: What are some of the decorations used during these festivals and how do we make them?

Milky Way decorations

1. Give out a square piece of paper and ask students to draw a picture about the story of the Weaver Princess and the cowherd.
2. Provide the instructions and demonstrate the folding steps as follows:

Step 1. Fold a square piece of paper approximately 12 cm x 12 cm diagonally in half so that it looks like a triangle.

Step 2. Fold the triangle in half again so that the paper is folded into four triangles.

Step 3. Fold smaller triangles in half again so the paper is now folded into eight triangles.

Step 4. Make cuts along the edges with folds, stopping 1 centimetre from the opposite edge. 

Step 5. Open the paper back into the original square. Pull down from the centre so that it puffs up. Pull the four corners together and tie with a string on top. 

Step 6. Display the decorations on a large piece of bamboo or a branch of a tree.

Step 7. Ask your students to talk about their drawings and what they might wish for.

Carp streamers

1. Explain that they will be making the carp streamers next. You may wish to create a class stream of carps and students can choose a particular colour for their carp.
2. Each student is given a length of stick, a piece of string, felt-tip pens and pieces of A4 paper.
3. Provide the instructions and show your students the folding steps as follows: 

Step 1. Make 2 folds lengthways in an A4 sheet of paper. The first fold is one-eighth of the width of the paper, while the second fold is across half the width of the paper. 

Step 2. Pull the two long edges towards each other to make a tube. Glue the one-eight fold to the opposite long edge. You now have a tube that will be the body of the carp. 

Step 3. Flatten one end of the tube and cut an inwards 'V' shape so that the end resembles a tail of a carp. 

Step 4. Attach and centre the 15cm strip along one long edge of the tube to resemble a fin on the top of the carp's body. Attach the other two shorter strips on the under side of the long edge spaced 10 centimetres apart to resemble the bottom fins of a carp.

Step 5. Decorate the carp by painting it with scales and eyes. Attach the string on the end opposite the 'V' cut fins. 

Step 6. To make the second carp, cut a quarter off the top of the second piece of A4 paper and follow the same procedure.

Step 7. To make the next, smaller, carp, cut more off the top of the next piece of paper and follow the same procedure.

Step 8. Use the paper left over from creating the carp to make streamers to decorate the top of the stick.

Step 9. Attach the carps to the stick, making sure that the largest is at the top and the smallest is last.

Step 10. Once the carps are made you can hang them outside the classroom from a tree in the school yard. This could be expanded to become a whole-school activity.

Activity 4: Reflection

Ask your students the following questions:

• What do they now know about Japanese festivals?
• What did they find interesting?
• What else do they want to know?

Complete the learning sequence by discussing what they enjoyed during the art-making process and what they found difficult to accomplish. The discussion could include ways of solving these problems.